One hundred years after the death of Giuseppe Verdi, the Cairo Opera Company has brought one of his greatest operas to life. Aida, a perennial favorite in Egypt, was performed through the last two weeks of February at the Cairo Opera House.

Set during the time of the Pharaohs, Aida is a classic story of lovers caught in the turbulence of war. The backdrop of pyramids and temples infuses the tale with a memorable atmosphere.

Guest Italian artist Carmela Apollonio played the slave-princess Aida, her soprano voice soaring high into the rafters of the Opera House. Hers was a mournful yet powerful performance that was compelling and intense.

The music and choreography were also impressive, with the stage at some points filled with dancers and singers playing a multitude of characters.

Aida was first preformed at the Cairo Opera House on December 24, 1871, but Verdi's influence has continued to enthrall opera fans for generations.

Sung in Italian, the performance builds throughout the four-act drama, culminating in a splendid tragic ending which usually brings the audience to their feet.

The history of Aida is as transfixing as the performance itself. In celebration of the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the Khedive of Egypt invited the aristocracy and Royalty of Europe to Egypt to witness Egypt's modernization.

In order to entertain the European elite, Ismail Pasha pushed for the construction of an opera house and the performance of a specially-commissioned opera were to show the world that Egypt was a cultured nation.

The decision to use ancient Egypt as the setting was a deliberate effort of the Pasha to demonstrate Egypt's glorious pharaonic past.

Initially, Verdi refused the commission of the project, but after a friend of his sent him a synopsis of the opera, a love-story in ancient Egypt written by the French Egyptologist Mariette Bash, Verdi changed his mind and wrote the opera in four months.

Verdi is considered the greatest 19th Century composer of Italian opera. Born into a poor family in 1813, Verdi's musical talents were discovered by an amateur musician, who sent Verdi to study music with an organist at a cathedral.

At 18 he went to Milan and wrote his first opera in 1839. The talented composer quickly established himself as a successful producer. Following Aida, Verdi did not compose another opera for 14 years.

Aida is not without its academic critics. Written during the charged period of European colonialism, Edward Said has condemned Aida as a stunning example of "the empire at work."

Based on his theory of Orientalism, Said argues that the opera is steeped in a Euro-centric vision of the east, and that the choice of Ethiopia as the enemy of Egypt in the opera was a deliberate choice that furthered European ambitions of empire.

Taking into consideration Said's critique, Aida is still nevertheless aesthetically pleasing. Certainly, the grand scale of the project compensates for any lingering intellectual unease.
M.Ghazala